London, 9 December — Later this week, government ministers will descend on Poznan, Poland, for the UN’s COP-14 climate meeting. A new report* by Prof. Julian Morris, released by a coalition of over 50 civil society groups, presents a stark warning to those ministers contemplating a global cap on greenhouse gas emissions.

Prof. Morris said: ‘A cap on emissions of carbon would do little to protect humanity against the threat of climate change but would drastically increase the threat of global economic catastrophe.’

He continued: ‘For Ministers in Poznan to agree to cap carbon emissions in the near term would be economic lunacy. It would divert resources into “low carbon” technologies and away from more productive uses – thereby slowing economic growth and harming the ability of the poor to address the real problems they face every day, such as diseases, water scarcity and inadequate nutrition.’

Prof. Morris points out that only a few European governments are now pushing strongly for a new global cap and they are doing so because their own policies are causing economic pain. ‘Some European ministers are trying to foist their own flawed climate policies on the rest of the world – in order to spread the pain. For the sakes of humanity, this EU siren song should be ignored,’ he concluded.

*Which Policy to Address Climate Change? by Julian Morris, published on Thursday, 11 December 2009, by the Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change (www.csccc.info).

The Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change seeks to educate the public about the science and economics of climate change in an impartial manner. It was established as a response to the many biased and alarmist claims about human-induced climate change, which are being used to justify calls for intervention and regulation.

The Coalition comprises 50 civil society organisations in 38 countries, all of whom who share a commitment to improving public understanding about a range of public policy issues. All are non-profit organizations that are independent of political parties and government. A list of members is available at www.csccc.info/members.php